In the (designer) chair

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

12/20/11, 9:10 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 9:14 PM CET

Denmark aims to bring a touch of class to the Council.

Denmark has a good reputation in the field of furniture and interior décor. So for at least the duration of Denmark’s presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Council’s headquarters, the Justus Lipsius building, will be smartened up.

The Danes are putting in sofas, carpets and lamps to create what they call “hyggelig” and the rest of us might call a cosy ambience, though whether that will improve the mood at EU summits is to be doubted. At the 8-9 December get-together, Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, reportedly told Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s prime minister: “You’re an out, a small out, and you’re new. We don’t want to hear from you.”

It is a fair bet that Sarkozy will not be invited into the presidency room on the fifth floor to try out the Arne Jacobsen-designed sofa.